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UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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\^^l 


c :' - 


AN 


U  A  T  S  O  N 


DELIVERED  AT 

CHAPEL   HILL, 

On  Wednesday,  June  24tl),  18-29,  being  the  day  before  the 
Commennpmpnt  of  the  College, 

ACCORDISG  TO    '^'•'* 

'1 

THE  ANNUAL  APPOINTMENT 


THE   TWO  LITERARY  SOCIETIES 


N. 


I  I 


Cs. 


BELONGING  TO  THE 


BY  WILLIAM  HOOPER,  A,  M.  ,  j^^ 

PROrESSOR  or  ancient  languages  in  the  UNIVEIlSITYt  ^ 


HILLSBOROUGH: 
PRINTED  BY  DENNIS  HEARTT. 

1829. 


^ 

> 


;^1^  @  :;>  il >2N H  @ 22?' 


VW\'WWVVW 


My  Respected  Audience: 

I  HAD  hoped  that  this  luimial  office  of  addressing  you 
would  have  always  {allrn  upon  one  of  the  alumni  of  this 
collego,  whose  political  standirig,  or  whose  space  in  the  eye 
of  his  countt'y,  would  have  attracted  public  attention  and 
curiosity.  An  annual  appointment  which  would  thus  draw 
within  these  silriit  and  sequestered  precincts  some  of  our 
distinguislied  citizens,  might  confer  several  important  be- 
nefits on  the  institution,  by  awakening  afresh  in  their  bt5= 
soms  the  recollections  of  youth,  and  brightening  the  links 
wliich  hind  them  to  their  alma  mater — while  to  the  youth 
lecciving  their  education,  the  presence  and  the  addresses  of 
such  visiters  would  be  received  as  a  mark  of  attention, 
highly  flattering,  and  fitted  to  inspire  a  noble  emulation.  I 
need  feel  no  mortification  of  pride  in  informing  the  audi- 
ence, that  if  tiie  first  w  ishes  of  the  young  gentlemen  mak- 
ing the  appointment  could  have  been  gratified,  you  would 
have  had  the  pleasure  of  listening,  this  da^,  to  some  dis- 
tinguished speaker  from  abroad;  nor  would  the  members  of 
the  university  have  had  one  selected  from  their  body  to 
fulfil  a  task  which  sectna  tntwc  graceftiHj  and  appropriate- 
ly committed  to  a  stranger.  But  the  failure  of  their  appli- 
cations in  other  quarters  having  devolved  the  duty  upon  me, 
I  shall  be  happy  if  I  am  able,  in  some  slight  degree,  to  ful- 
fil the  wishes  of  the  literary  body  who  have  done  me  the 
honour  of  making  me  their  representative  on  this  Dccasion, 
and  to  compensate  this  polite  auditory  for  the  favour  of 
their  presence. 


The  subject  lo  whiclt  your  atlciii ion  is  re^pectluliy  suli- 
cited,  is  one  which  I  kimw  must  be  acceptable  to  every  Ame- 
rican ear:  The  rnospKCTS  or  ovu  common  couiNTiiy.  It 
there  is  any  toitic  vvhicli.  more  tlian  others,  i-^  selected  as 
the  thf^ne  o!  those  \v!io  aim,  either  by  the  voice  or  the  pen, 
to  captivate  the  hearing  ami  the  hearts  of  thi3  n<!tion,  it  is 
the  splendid  afiticipatlons  of  its  future  destiny.  On  these 
we  all  love  to  dwell;  and  whih;  we  lose  ourselves  in  fond 
prophecies  of  our  country's  fortunes,  we  find  a  soothing 
oblivion,  or  at  least  alleviation,  of  any  chaj^rins  which  her 
present  imperfections  may  hi^vt^^Lugpired.  So  far  Hh'  effect 
is  happy.  But  it  may  he  doubted  whether  the  Amcricaji 
citizen,  by  irnlulginjc  too  sanguine  hopes  of  the  lufurej,  is 
not  led  to  M.-preciatc  the  value  of  his  prcsen-  blessings,  and 
thus  to  deprive  himself  of  thnt  fullness  of  contentment  and 
gratitude^  wliich  is  called  for  by  the  already  auspicious  re- 
sults of  our  govertiment,  under  the  smiles  of  I'rovidence. 
This  dissatisfaction  with  the  present,  and  this  longing  after 
some  good  in  reserve,  rs  to  live  for  posterity — is  to  make 
ourselves  anxious,  th  »t  they  may  be  exempt  from  anxiety. 
But  should  we  taste  with  indiffeience  tljc  sweet  fruits  which 
a  hotmteous  heaven  is  now  dropping  into  our  lap,  or  thrust 
tbem  aside  nitl»  disgust  because  they  are  not  as  large  or 
as  luscious  as  we  imagine  might  be  yielded  by  the  same 
tree  when  brought  to  a  higher  state  of  cultivation?  And 
are  we  sure  that  the  future  is  to  surpass  the  present?  Are 
we  sure  that  our  country  is  nor  now  in  its  meridian  of  hap- 
piness aird  glory,  and  that  no  subsequent  age  will  be  as 
prosperous  as  thi.s?  Lci  us  lake  a  view  uf  our  present  con- 
dition, and  indulge  in  some  speculations  on  what  we  have 
to  fear  an«i  what  lo  hope,  from  the  revolution  of  years. 

When  we  compare  the  history  of  our  country  since  its 
attainment  of  indepen«ience  with  that  of  all  other  nations, 
we  see  so  much  of  national  enjoyment  with  so  little  alloy, 
that  our  very  felicity  begets  susptr  ion  and  alarm.  Ourcon- 
tlition  appears  too  happy  to  be  lasting.     We  arc  ready  to 


apjH'ehPiKl  thif  a  I'lng  continuanco  ot'siicli  untrotibleiS  exis- 
tcfne  is  m<u'i;  than  uy  one  tiutiou  mii^ht  Ux'xpi^C  IVuni  :   e 
favouf  of  licaveu;  aiifl  wt'  sometimes  heave  a  bodins;  sigh,  lest 
oup  I'i  verst-s  are  to  bv  as  rapi'!  atul  calamitous  as  our  pros- 
pci'itv  has  been  «vArly  and  brj.;iit:  and  rliat  thu>)  is  to  he 
cquaiized  the  distribution  of  providential  .a,ifts,  which  hith- 
erto st-eni  to  have  been  heaped  upoti  ns  wifh  a  p.uttal  pio- 
digality.  That  a  people  should  Isave  been  pcrmitfeci  to  set- 
tle down  in  the  bosom  of  a  boundless  cojstinent,  v,ilh«!ut 
any  territorial  limits  to  stint  their  growth — without  any 
jealous  neighbours  to  cru^At  «!■  cripple  thcTp  feeble  infancy — 
that  t!icy  sliouEd  have  grown,   in  spite  of  impolitic  legisla- 
tion, to  the  stature  of  manhood,  and  tlien  have  been  goad- 
ed by  increasing  misrule  to  try  their  stripling  strength 
against  tlie  gigantic  might  of  the  parent  nation— that  they 
should  have  persevered  in  the  unequal  contest  for  sivea 
long  years,  and  at  lesigth  have  gloriously  triumphed — that 
they  should  have  escaped  the  usual  fatality  of  revolutions, 
and  did  not  find  a  master  and  a  t>rant  iii  some  one  of  the 
chiefs  who  led  them  to  victory — that  with  a  magnanimous 
calmness  and  deliberation  never  before  witnessed  m  any 
people,  they  elected  a  council  of  their  wisest  senators  to 
frame  for  them  a  system  of  government,  binding  the  seve- 
ral parts  into  one  liai'moniou;^ confederacy,  making  *»eplu- 
ribus  unum;" — that  they  should  have  adopted  this  govi^rn- 
ment  with  so  marvellous  usianimity  (the  U'^ual  selfjsh  and 
turbulent  passions  that  niiglit  have  been  expected  to  mar 
such  a  work  seeming  lo  lie  dormant  or  extinct) — that  half 
a  century  of  nlTitiTst~rrntntirrTTrpteT!  p^arer  amniie  exclusive 
ownership  of  an  immense  territory,  should  have  afi'orded 
them  the  most  propitious  opportunity  of  making  an  experi- 
ment, how  a  nation  could  succeed  under  so  free  and  popu- 
lar a  government — that  the  experim<  «it  has  succeeded,  and 
that  during  that  half  century  we  ha\e  had  nothing  to  do 
but  to  grow  and  spread  as  rapidly  as  amplitude  of  room  -..nd 
exuberance  of  plenty  and  incessant  immigration  could  make 


G 

us— -all  these  lliitigs  compose  sucli  a  rare  aggrepjalion  of  po 
litfcal  blessings,  ar,  may  well  awaken  fears  tliat  \vc  liavc  al- 
ready had  more  than  our  s!iar<*of  good  anionc;  the  njcnibcrs 
of  the  human  family,  and  that  we  must  now  expect  our  dnr 
portion  of  those  misfortunes  which  have  fallen  to  tlic  lot  of 
all  other  nations.  We  are  now  in  the  simplicity  sind  inno- 
cence of  youth.  Necessary  industry  yet  keeps  our  maiinerr 
incorrupt.  Overgrown  wealth  has  not  yet  introduced  cr.- 
ervating  luxury  with  its  train  of  vices.  Our  citizens,  tiiinl; 
scattered  over  the  spacious  continent,  enjoy,  on  fiieir  exten- 
sive farms,  all  the  ease^nnd  plcnij;^  they  could  wish.  They 
are  not  Tempted  by  desperate  circumstances  to  aim  at  revo- 
lution; their  wits  are  not  sliarpened  to  crime  by  liard  no 
cessity,  and  the  rude  collision  of  multitudes  struggling  for 
the  same  objects.  What  can  we  expect  in  reserve  for  us 
better  than  is  already  in  our  hands?  Ought  a  nation  to 
desire  more  than  that  a  vast  majority  of  its  populatiuu 
should  possess  an  easy  competence,  and  the  safe  enjoyment 
of  lif»,  liberty  and  property?  Can  wc  wish  or  hope  for 
more  unrestrained  freedom  ol  thought  and  action,  for  light- 
er taxes,  for  more  undisiurbed  repose?  Shall  we  value  i' 
at  a  cheap  rate  that  our  youth  are  not  called  out  to  shed 
their  biood  in  foreign  battle,  that  we  know  nothing  of  in- 
vading armies  passing  through  our  land,  sending  panic  be- 
fore ibem,  and  leaving  carnage  and  de^^olation  and  mourn- 
ing in  their  rear — that  every  citizen  has  the  fostering  hand 
ot  govtrjuiient  to  encourage  his  industry  and  protect  him 
in  its  products,  while  he  is  asked  but  a  pittance  in  requital 
= — that  iie  should  be  able  ihus  to  accumulate  wealth  all  hi.-; 
Jife,  and  bequeath  it  as  !;e  pleases  to  his  children?  ThCwtse 
features  in  our  political  condition  seem  to  exemplify  that 
image  of  n.itional  felicity,  depicted  by  the  expressive  lan- 
guage or  Hoiy  Writ,  whvn  in  every  part  of  a  land  is  heard 
« the  voice  of  joy  and  the  voice  of  gladness,  the  voice  of 
the  bridegroom  an(!  the  voice  of  the  bride."  Would  not 
every  political  economist  and  reformer  of  Europe  think 


his  country  happy  if  it  could  just  enjoy  what  ours  has  en- 
joyed  for  the  last  fifty  years?  Would  he  not  consider  his 
darling  projects  consummated,  if  he  could  only  reduce  the 
complicated  and  oppressive  establishments  of  the  old  world 
to  the  simplf*  model  of  this  young  republic,  and  leave  man, 
as  he  is  in  America,  to  the  free  pursuit  of  happiness,  untram- 
melled by  taxes  and  monopolies  and  prescriptive  rights  and 
privileged  orders?  Europe  looks  on  with  amazement  and 
with  envy  at  a  nation  so  free  and  yet  so  tranquil — so  sale 
without  the  overawing  presence  of  military  force — ai  the 
spectacle  of  a  government  sustained  almost  without  taxa- 
tion, and  religion  flourishing  without  thesucroui  of  t!»c  na- 
tional arm,  or  the  aid  of  the  national  pursp.  Her  subjects 
who  visit  us,  and  traverse  our  land,  behold  with  admira- 
tion a  people  spread  over  a  vast  empire,  contentedly  pur- 
suing the  arts  of  peace,  and,  at  its  most  distant  extrtmities, 
gracefully  according  spontaneous  homage  and  obedience  to 
the  mild  sway  of  a  government,  which  loves  to  draw  with 
silken  cords,  and  to  hide,  till  hateful  necessity  reveals  it, 
the  strength  which  can  enforce  its  requisitions. 

Historians  admonish  us.  that  nations,  like  the  sun,  have 
their  time  of  rising,  of  meridian,  and  of  decline;  and  we  are 
familiar  with  the  comparison  of  a  whole  people's  existence 
_to  the  life  of  a  single  individual,  which  has  its  youth,  its 
manhood,  and  old  age.  It  is  natural  for  each  nation,  while 
it  contemplates  the  transient  date  and  the  convulsive  deaths 
of  its  predecessors,  to  imagine  that  itself  will  have  the  wis- 
dom or  the  good  fortune  to  avoid  the  usual  causes  of  politi- 
cal destruction^  and  to  lm\ye  that  th^ seaKon  of  its  glory  will 
be  indefinitely  extended.  And  must  we  believe  all  such  ex- 
pectations to  be  merely  the  pleasing  illusions  of  self  love, 
destined  to  certain  disappointment?  Must  we  adopt  the 
desponding  sentiment  of  the  Roman  poet 

omnia  fatis 

In  pejus  ruere,  et  retro  sublapsa  referri. 


that  all  human  things  tend  by  a  sad  ialality  to  dcgcncra<  v 
and  dissolution?  Must  we,  in  tl."c  case  ot  ouc  own  dear  roini- 
try  particulatly.  admit  the  belief  that  the  bright  vision  wo 
have  been  C'litemplating  will  speedily  vanisit?  that  these 
numerous  blessings  are  but  dew  drops  which  silver  tlic 
morning  of  our  existence,  as  bright  and  as  tsansient  too? 
Shall  we,  by  unfriendly  analogies  drawn  from  vegetable  and 
animal  life,  where  whatever  is  most  rapid  in  growth  soonest 
hastens  to  decay,  presage,  from  our  early  maturity,  a  biiel"  r 
term  than  ordinary  of  national  duration?  No.  Let  us  rath- 
er choose  to  entertain  brighter  hopes  for  tl»,cd^>stinics  of  the 
world.  I«ct  us  hope  that  tije  lessons  derived  from  the  me- 
lancholy wrecks  of  fallen  empires  will  not  be  lost  upon  the 
present  generation.  Let  us  indulge  the  delightful  belief,  that 
the  active  operation  of  the  press,  the  consequent  diffusion  of 
intelligence  and  freedom,  and.  above  all,  tiie  kin(ily  inlluencc 
of  Christianity,  controlling  the  passions  and  riieenng  tlic 
hearts  of  men,  furnish  a  security  for  national  ijcrmanencc 
and  improvement,  unknown  to  preceding  ages. 

\Vhile,  however,  the  American  patriot  is  glad  to  cling  to 
such  consoling  hopes,  it  \^  impossible  for  him  not  to  feel  some. 
solicitude  on  ac(  ount  of  certain  frow  ning  spots  in  our  blight 
horizon. 

Thr.  first  danger  which  meets  his  view  and  excites  the 
most  dismal  apprelnnsions,  is  disunion.  When  he  con- 
templates the  immense  extent  of  our  empire,  his  mind  will 
somirtimes  be  agiuiteii  with  serious  fears  thai  its  parts  can- 
nut  long  cohtre,  hot  must  fall  asunder,  b.v  the  mere  effect  of 
nnwiefdy  grtHtnosis.  Tliis  spaciou-  tcriiiory  he  sees  inter- 
sected by  many  grand  g:  ographical  divisions,  large  rivers 
and  high  mountdins.  forming  natural  boundaries  for  dis- 
tinct nations.  He  asks  iiiujself  what  moral  ligaments  suffi- 
ciently strong,  can  bind  together  regions  which  nature 
seems  to  have  intended  should  be  separated?  The  arm  of  a 
powerful  desp  ifiNm.  fixed  in  the  centre,  might,  he  could 
suppose,  wield  so  long  a  sceptre.  By  tiie  dispersion  of  devo-= 


9 

led  legions  and  sei'viie  satraps  through  the  niimciuus  pr«> 
vinccs,  di<^coii[piit  mis^ht  be  hushed  and  QMery  rebpiliouij 
murrniir' stifled.  But  how,  liev^ill  say,  can  a  government 
which  allows  such  unbounded  f'reedora  of  thought  and  ac- 
tioi  wiiJOii  actually  excm|)Iifi*s  the  fail-  theory  of  freedom 
conceived  by  Cicero,  that  >«  mr n  may  think  what  they  please 
and  speak  %vhat  tl»ey  think."  iiow  caji  such  a  government 
control  tfie  tr<'f)  wiifs  of  so  many  myriads,  and  lestrain  the 
natural  vvanlonuess  of  \he  hiinMn  mind,  in  lo\ing  innova- 
tion, and,  \i\i»ile  already  in  possession  of  much  good,  seek- 
ing for  somefhnrg  iictter  hv  a  rhan^ei^ 

Tiic  roinmou  danger  of  dissolution,  to  be  dreaded  by  eve- 
ry overgrown  empire,  he  sees  increased,  in  ourca^iC,  by  the 
heu'rogeneous  materials  of  which  the  mass  is  composed. 
Wt;e  our  people,  he  wi!!  sny.  all  of  one  blood,  had  they 
grown  up  in  the  same  habits,  and  been  attaclied  to  our  in- 
stitutions by  a  long  course  of  filial  nurture,  we  njight  cher- 
ish the  hope  (hat  the  evil  day  would  be  long  delayed,  if  it 
could  not  bo  fiiKiliy  aves-ted.  But  mingled  among  us  as  are 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  from  ail  parts  of  the  old 
v.'oild.  and  some  of  thein  materials  of  the  most  dangerous 
and  explosive  cliaracter,  bringing  from  their  respective 
countries  minds  haidened  by  desperate  circumstances,  and 
familiar  vilh  bloodshed,  intrigue  and  revolution,  how  can 
the  most  hopeful  propitet  anticipate  permanence  of  union? 
Such  a  combination  might  Ise  said  to  resemble  the  ill  com- 
pacted image  in  the  vision  of  llis  Babylonian  monarch, 
whose  head  was  of  gold,  while  its  legs  were  partly  of  iron 
and  partly  of  xirtj; — ^ — —-  — -- — ^~^ 

Of  all  these  perilous  elements  of  foreign  mixture  w  ill  he 
contemplate  with  chief  alarm,  that  race,  whose  complexion, 
at  once  a  banner  of  union  and  of  vengeance,  must  forever 
forbid  amalgamation,  and  whose  exclusion  from  all  the  bless- 
ings of  tlie  government  must  make  them  wish  for  its  over- 
throw. The  intermixture  of  these  ingredients  with  the  whole 
mass  of  our  population,  he  cannot  but  perceive,  produces 


among  us  a  state  of  mind  much  the  same  wilh  that  of  a  man 
who  [».is  f;un-}>f)svder  stored  away  in  his  cellar.  It  is  a  con- 
tcmplatiou  of  these  dangers,  paitic  ularly  the  last,  which 
gathers  on  tlie  patriot's  I)row  the  cloud  of  care,  which  ex- 
tortfi  from  the  father  a  sigh  of  solicitude  for  the  fate  of  his 
children,  wliich  startler,  with  terrific  dreams  the  slumbers 
of  the  mother,  and  makes  her  press  her  tender  babe  more 
closely  to  her  bosom*.  Every  fatler  of  a  family,  while  he 
muses  on  the  probable  issues  of  futurity,  may  indeed  hope, 
from  the  broad  foundation  of  our  national  edifice,  and  from 
ihe  excellence  of  its  maiujuateriais,  that  it  will  withstand 
many  amTTe  shock  of  the  elements,  and  preserve  safe  the 
l)ulk  of  its  inhabitants.  But  at  the  same  time  he  may  anti- 
cipate with  sliuddering  the  agony  of  his  children  who  shall 
jvihabit  it,  while  the  storm  is  howling  over  their  heads, 
and  tlie  probability  that  they  may  be  overwhelmed  by  the 
fall  of  some  interior  part  of  the  fabric.  A  large  majority  of 
the  family  is  saved,  but  the  part  dearest  to  him  is  crushed. 
The  last  act  of  his  country*s  drama  he  has  little  doubt  will 
be  brought  to  a  happy  contlusion,  but  what  if  the  calami- 
tics  of  his  own  children  are  to  constitute  the  tragedy  of  the 
foregoing  scenes! 

Let  it  not  be  said  that  these  are  gloomy  spectres  conjur- 
ed up  by  a  distempered  fancy,  or  the  idle  alarms  of  a  tim- 
orous spirit.  They  have  disturbed  the  breasts  of  some  of  the 
soberest  and  firmest  statesmen  of  this  country.  Nor  do  we 
show  superioi'  courage  or  sagacity  by  laughing  at  such  ap- 
prehensions. True  courage  is  evidenced  by  dat  ing  to  con- 
template danger  as  it  is  approaching,  and  providently 
adopting  measures  to  avert  it.  Timidity,  on  the  other  hand, 
works  itself  into  a  heat,  refuses  to  listen  to  cautionary  ad- 
vice, dares  not  to  stop  and  deliberate  lest  its  blood  should 
cool,  but  rushes  forward  holding  its  hand  before  its  eyes, 
Jest  it  should  see  evils  which  it  has  not  the  nerve  to  con- 

*  Et  trepidffi  matres  pressere  ad  pecfora  natos.    K£rg-. 


11 

temjilrtte.  Let  us  not  be  so  fond  of  indulgiiif?  s^a>  visions  of 
our  roiiotry's  CPilain  glory,  as  lo  bopxaspcrutcil  if  any  one 
■.vhisjtcj"  Ihfit  tlje  contrary  !;•>  possible.  The  infelicity  oi' 
monarchs  in  being  doomed  nevci'  to  licar  tbc  trutli,  is  pro- 
verbial. But  it  is  quite  possible  Tor  republican  ears  to  be- 
come  as  intolerant  of  unplcasanf  communications  as  those  ol 
kings;  and  a  reference  to  history  migiit  sliow,  that  the  chief 
danger  of  democracies  consists  in  yielding  themselves  Uji  to 
the  flattering  counsels  of  venal  demagogues,  rather  than 
to  the  faithful  admonitions  of  their  honest  patriots. 

Let  ns  then,  instead  of  eliuttingour  ears  with  ineredulity 
and  resentment  against  all  propijecics  of  evil,  ratlur  like  a 
wise  and  prudent  people,  consider  whether  there  is  anj'  re- 
deeming virtue  in  our  fabric  of  government  and  the  charac- 
ter of  our  people;  or  wiiether  timdy  means  may  not  be 
adopted  which  may  prevent  the  apprehended  mischief. 

With  respect  to  that  event  so  much  to  be  abhorred 
and  dreaded,  the  disunion  of  the  States,  are  not  vve  war- 
ranted in  entertaining  goodly  hopes  for  the  confederacy, 
from  out*  unprecedented  advantages  for  a  fair  experiment  of 
govt  rnment?  In  most  countries  that  have  ever  existed,  the 
bulk  of  the  population,  the  physical  strengtii  of  the  nation, 
was  not  interested  in  the  permanency  of  tlie  established 
sovereignty.  They  saw  in  that  establishment  little  more  to 
tljem  than  a  system  of  restraints  and  incumbrances,  while 
all  the  b<  nefits  of  the  social  order  were  concentrated  upon 
a  few  privileged  classes.  Hence  they  were  led  to  hope  an 
amenduient  of  their  circumstances  from  every  revolution; 
and  as  soon  aBUnyTKvorabTec^rrjiiTTctxire  presented  the  pro- 
mise of  success,  or  some  bold  demagogue  blew  into  a  flame 
their  smothered  discontent,  or  some  popular  hero  showed 
them  their  collected  strength  and  offerod  them  redress  by 
the  sword,  they  rose  and  overthrew  their  government  with- 
out scruple  or  remorse.  Such  governments  were  edifices  re- 
sembling inverted  pyramids.  They  stood  critically  on  a 
qjoint,  while  a  vast  superincumbent  vvright  hung  tottering 


13 

in  the  air.  So  Jong  as  cunning  statesmen  could  manage  by 
tlieir  dexterity  to  maintain  the.  delicate  equipoist\  by  bal- 
ancing one  part  of  the  structure  against  the  other,  so  long 
the  building  stood.  But  let  any  untoward  accident,  any 
breath  of  wind,  or  the  push  of  a  foreign  hand,  cause  a  lean- 
ing To  either  side,  and  the  whole  cumbrous  mass  came  thun- 
liering  dov^  n  and  whelmed  every  thing  in  ruin.  Happily  for 
us,  our  government  is  based  upon  the  will  of  the  governed.  It 
was  framed  by  the  people,  it  is  administered  by  the  people 
and  for  the  people.  Nor  does  it  arrogate  to  itself  perfection, 
and,  like  tiie  laws  of  tJie_M£lks_and  ^^jans,  forbid  all 
change,  4«rt'^ohtains  in  its  structure  provisions  Itrr  pacific 
and  legium^te  amendments.  Should  experience,  therefore, 
prove  any  existing  ordinance  to  be  grievous,  there  needs  no 
political  convulsion  to  throw  it  off.  The  people  who  feel  the 
grievance  have  but  to  say  to  thfir-delegated  authorities,  re- 
move it,  and  straightway  it  disappears. 

Besides  the  contentment  and  tranquility  likely  to  per- 
vade the  popular  mass  from  the  imtnunities  so  fully  en- 
joyed, we  have  much  to  hope  for  our  permanent  union 
from  the  peculiar  form  of  our  federal  government — its 
happy  adaptstion  to  «ur  circumstances — the  state  govern- 
ments supplying  all  the  exigencies  of  local  legislation, 
while  the  united  strength  of  the  confederacy  spreads  the 
broad  shield  of  its  protection  over  the  general  concerns, 
and  gives  dignity  and  weight  to  ail  our  foreign  opera- 
tions. It  would  seem  that  if  so  wide  an  empire  can  co- 
here under  a  free  governmi  nt,  the  system  we  have  adopt- 
ed must  be  the  one  whit  b  promise's  ii.  What  rare  calami- 
ty shall  overthrow  a  structure  resting  on  so  broad  a  basis! 
What  deep  infatuation  shall  ever  prompt  a  people,  in  qui- 
et possession  of  such  unpuraileied  blessings,  to  hazard  thera 
all  for  the  certain  horrors  and  the  precarious  profits  of  a 
revolution!  Never  had  a  government  such  claims  to  devo- 
ted attachment,  never  were  a  people  so  deeply  interested  in 
the  perpetuity  of  the  constitution  under  which  they  lived. 


13 

They  Utivc  tested  its  virtues  by  a  half  century  o*"  safety  arm 
prosperirv.  Thev  have  lounJ  it  lo  yieM  them  all  the  advan- 
tagos  of  tVcedom.  «hile  it  secures  thern  from  the  turbulence 
of  licentiousness.  The  more  they  are  enlightened,  the  morp 
clearly  they  will  see  how  happy  they  are  compared  with 
other  nations,  and  the  more  dear  to  them  will  be  their  own 
institutions.  To  show  them  the  value  of  our  union,  that  it  is 
t!ie  hinge  on  whiclj  hang  all  the  grand  interests  and  desti- 
nies of  our  country,  deserves  tlie  efforts  of  the  wisest  heads! 
and  the  most  able  pens  of  the  nation.  Everything  ought  to 
be  done  which  has  a  tendency  to  strengthen  the  confederacy; 
every  thing  ought  to  be  reHgiuusJy  avoided  w!uch  threat- 
ens the  disruption  of  our  political  ties.  Let  the  farewell  ad- 
monitions of  our  common  father,  Washington,  bo  written  in 
letters  of  gold  on  every  wall,  and  in  indelible  characters 
on  every  memory.  Let  every  American  believe,  let  every 
child  be  trained  up  to  think,  that  as  soon  as  the  chain  of  our 
union  is  broken,  this  continent,  hitherto  cso  pcac;  iul  and 
harnionious,  will  become,  what  Europe  has  long  been,  the 
bloody  arena  of  perpetual  strife  between  neighbouring  na- 
tions; that  bur  rivers  and  mountains,  which  now  serve  like 
so  many  arteries  and  bones  to  brace  the  frame  and  circu- 
late the  juices  of  our  healthful  system,  will  then  be  the 
boundaries  of  watchful  bes,  lined  with  garrisons  and  frown- 
ing with  liorrid  battlements — that  our  sons  will  be  drawn 
froin^the  academic  shade  and  the  endearments  of  home  to 
"grasp  the  swoi-il  and  the  bayonet  for  mutual  slaughter, 
while  the  willing  aid  of  envious  foreigners  will  be  called  in 
to  help  on  thc-wt7iicTjt^'aterH*l  l»«+el*ery.  Then  will  our 
peaceful  nights  be  startled  by  the  peal  of  the  drum;  our  plen- 
tiful fields,  hitherto  gathered  vtithout  a  partner,  shall  then 
become  the  foraging  ground  of  an  invading  army,  and  the 
heavy  exactions  which  each  petty  sovereignty  must  necessa- 
rily impose,  will  devour  the  remnant  that  the  enemy  has 
spared.  Let  these  premonitory  notes  be  run^  in  thvi  ears  of 
tl)e  people.  Let  them  be  persuaded  tbat,  compared  with  these 


14 

incTitable  consequeuces  oF  tlifsunion,  all  the  Iticoinfijicrjice 
and  privatiojis  we  liave  e\ev  suffered  from  our  federal  com- 
pact— direct  tax.  embargo,  war,  tariff,  are  ligii^  as  air.  and 
that  the  golden  chain  once  snapped,  we  shall  look  back  with 
bitter  but  fruitless  regret  upon  our  once  slighted  hlfssings, 
and  curse  tiie  madness  wliicli  drove  us  to  cast  them  away. 

We  touched  upon  ihe  dangers  to  be  apprehended  from 
the  admixture  of  foreigners  among  us.  Happily  this  dan- 
ger will  grow  less  with  the  lapse  of  time.  The  original  em- 
igrant becomes  a  much  more  harmless  citizen  tlian  he  was 
in  his  own  country.  Oppression  and  poverty  may  have  ren- 
dered ItiiiLa  <knigerous  revolutionTsTfTiefeTTiut  the  easy  cir- 
cumstances in  which  he  soon  places  himself  liere,  transform 
Ills  character,  and  attach  him  to  the  liospitable  land  that 
has  afforded  him  an  asylum  iu  its  bosom.  If  he  leaves  chil- 
dren after  him,  they  constitute  a  most  valuable  species  of 
population,  possessing  the  improvements  brought  from  old- 
er countries  with  the  patriotism  of  natives.  Besides,  the 
influx  of  foreigners  must  abate,  as  our  territoi-y  is  filic<l 
with  indigenous  multitudes.  And  it  is  to  be  hoped,  that  the 
example  of  our  free  institutions,  together  with  the  progress 
of  political  philosophy,  will  more  and  more  meliorate  Eu- 
ropean governments,  teaching  sovereigns  that  it  is  their  true 
interest  to  respect  each  other's  rights  and  to  make  their 
subjects  happy.  As  such  benign  cliangestake  place,  the  in- 
ducements to  emigration  will  subside,  and  thousands  of  rest- 
less malccontents,  who  now  sigh  for  elysian  fields  beyoud 
the  Atlantic,  will  then  seek  that  happiness  at  home  whiclv 
they  before  thought  was  only  to  be  found  in  the  new  world. 

Against  the  danger  that  threatens  us  from  servile  insur- 
rection, it  surely  becomes  a  wise  people  to  make  timely 
provision.  If  no  fears  were  awakened  by  growing  numbers 
and  incurable  discontent,  still,  the  necessary  degradation, 
and  inevitable  viciousnessof  so  large  a  proporti(»n  of  its  in- 
habitants, would  demand  remedial  measures  from  a  humane 
and  enlightened  nation,  Thatelavery  is  the  baneful  parent  of 


the  vilest  morals,  every  virtiioii3  lairiiiy  in  this  soutlieiu  cuun 
try  knows  full  well,  and  deplores  that  it  hoJds  witliin  its 
own  walls  a  (ountain  of  moral  poison,  which,  in  spite  of  t!ie 
most  watchful  care,  is  continually  diffusing  around  its  bale- 
ful influence  and  infecting  the  health  f  all  the  household j 
while  public  testimony  to  the  same  mournful  fact  is  furnish- 
ed by  every  jail  and  gibbet  in  the  land.  Many  of  the  state 
governments  have  awaked  to  tiie  importance  of  this  subject, 
and  we  may  hope  that  the  progress  of  political  wisdom  and 
an  in'-reasing  sense  of  the  magnitude  of  the  evil,  will  enlist 
the  remainder,  who  now  stand  back  tr^indiflference  or  des- 
pair,until  at  length  a  unanimity  shall  be  effected,  by  which 
the  collective  wisdom  and  resources  of  the  nation  shall  be 
put  into  action  for  the  extirpation  of  the  bitter  root  from 
our  soil. 

A  survey  of  the  multiplied  blessings  which  already  crown 
our  land,  might  seem  sufficient  to  beget  a  perfect  content- 
ment, and  that  all  we  could  ask  of  heaven  is,  a  continuance 
of  the  same  condition.  But  it  is  certain  we  arc  not  satisfied 
with  our  present  attainments;  and  perhaps  this  restless  de- 
sire of  something  better  was  implanted  in  communities  a?? 
it  is  in  individuals,  to  prevent  the  stagnation  of  human  af- 
fairs, and  to  stimulate  our  nature  to  its  highest  capacities 
of  improvement.  Our  country,  rapidly  as  it  has  advanced, 
has  not  advanced  rapidly  enough  for  our  ambition.  In  ma- 
ny respects  we  are  far  below  the  nations  ot  Europe,  and 
we  cannot  wait  with  patience  until  the  gradual  progress  of 
time  shall  place  us  on  a  level  with  them.  We  pant  for 
♦•more  space  wibe-woi'ld's  thought^'  Ourhomely, domes- 
tic joys,  our  humble,  quiet,  unostentatious  happiness,  seems 
tame  and  insipid.  We  sigh  for  some  more  splendid  fortune. 
We  want  the  world  to  ring  with  our  renown — to  talk  with 
admiration  of  fields  won  by  ihe  valour  of  our  troops,  of 
towns  and  fleets  demolished  by  the  thunders  our  navy,  of 
charmed  senates  hanging  with  breathless  rapture  on  the 
tongues  ot  our  orators,  of  the  sublimity  of  our  poets,  (he 


Iti 

erufiition  of  our  scholars,  the  profound  wisdom  o!  our  jurists 
and  philoHopliei"*.  We  want  to  see  shining  cities  line  a!'i 
our  streums,  tiie  whole  face  of  our  land  smilint;  like  a  cul- 
tivated garden,  paved  roads  and  canals  intersecting  every 
district,  and  universal  wealth,  lik^*  a  nii.;hty  rivpr,  rolling 
its  tide  from  one  extremity  of  the  empiri-  to  tiie  other.  Some 
of  these  are  legirimate  and  lauddble  objfcts  of  ambition, 
while  others  are  purcliased  at  so  dear  a  rate  that  a  desire 
after  them  is  one  of  the  most  unfortunate  passions  that  c.u! 
enter  the  breast  of  a  nation.  Are  wetimitten  with  a  passion 
for  glory,  that  noisy,  r-n-iing  g'/ddess,  who  drives  her 
flaming  cUiUHot  over ^he^e'irth,  (leTigTiTM^itfr-tlie  roar  of 
her  own  wlie-ls  and  th<'  i^<;ze  wiiich  she  attracts?  We  ;or~ 
get  that  the  period  of  a  natron's  greatest  glory  is  not  the 
period  of  its  greatest  happiness.  Its  years  of  tranquil  en- 
joyment roll  on  unnoticed.  Tiiose  are  too  tame  a  theme  for 
the  historic  muse,  who  ioves  to  record  daring  achievements 
of  valour,  struggles  of  terrilic  passion,  and  tragical  scenes 
of  suffering.  On  tiiese  she  lavishes  her  powers  of  descrip- 
tion, on  these  she  expatiates  at  larg**,  while  she  passes  over 
Avith  brief  and  careless  notice,  a  much  longer  space  of  a  na- 
tion's existence,  unsignaSized  by  striking  events,  but  spent 
in  happy  lepose.  Thus  a  river  may  flow  on  with  a  deep 
and  quiet  current  for  hundreds  of  miles,  tlie  convenient  tho- 
rough-fare of  the  whole  popolatian.  and  ytt  never  appear 
in  thecolumnsof  a  newspaper,  or  be  honourod  with  a  poet's 
song;  but  if  in  its  progress  it  chances  to  dash  its  waters 
over  a  precipice  anO  form  a  frightftil  cataract,  that  single 
spot  absorbs  ail  artmtion  and  wins>»ij  r»=-nowTi.  The  words 
of  the  poet  are  but  too  well  verified  by  the  history  of  na- 
tions as  well  as  of  individuuis.  tliat 

"  The  paths  of  glory  lead  but  to  the  grave." 

Great  talents  are  called  forth  only  by  great  exigencies.  Itt 
ordinary  times,  they  slumber  unknown,  or  expend  them- 
selves in  quiet  schemes  of  domestic  usefulness.    And  shall 


\r 

^e  li'gret  that  no  caliiinitous  event  orciira  to  thi'ou'  these 
talents  into  boldrr  prominonrp?  Shall  we  wish  a  whole  na- 
tion's  mighty  body  to  writlip  in  a  convulsive  fit,  that  we 
may  have  tlie  pleasure  of  s(eing  the  action  of  its  larger 
muscles?  Let  us  remcmbei"  too.  that  the  s;imc  tr>in^  limes 
which  pntvoke  into  public  view  talents  ttiat  arc  valuaiilCj 
also  rouse  tlio^e  that  are  noxious.  If  an  itigl'>rioas  tt'dnq-iil- 
lity  deprives  us  of  the  delight  which  we  should  rcceivpfroin 
sublime  ex.'iibitions  of  virtue,  it  may  save  us  the  pain  wnd 
the  horror  of  witnessing  gigantic  powers  employed  only  to 
destroy.  Who  of  us  could  desire  a  volcano  to  burst  forUi  in 
our  neighbor.'iood,  bti  ausc  perchance  it  might  send  forth 
I'rom  its  bowels  some  lumps  of  gold?  Do  we  pant  for  milita- 
ry renown?  Alas!  let  us  consider  what  rivulets  of  blood  mus': 
be  slicd  to  nouiisli  the  hnirels  of  a  single  hero.  Let  us  cast 
our  eyes  on  Rome  in  the  days  of  her  Julius  and  her  Cato, 
on  France  in  the  days  of  her  Louis  XIV  and  her  Napoleon, 
on  England  during  the  campaigns  of  her  Marlborou<;;h  and 
the  exploits  of  her  Nelson!  Would  America  be  willing  to 
earn  such  celebrity  at  such  an  expense,  and  pour  out,  liko 
water,  the  blood  of  her  sons  and  the  tears  of  her  daughters, 
merely  tliat  she  might  boast  of  a  few  splendid  victories? 
Heaven  delend  us  from  such  accursed  ambition,  and  such 
«*  had  eminence"  in  the  production  of  misery! 

Do  we  burn  with  emulation  to  give  birth  to  illustrious 
orators?  These  too,  are  the  product  of  a  nation's  throes. 
It  is  impending  dangers,  it  is  kren  suffering,  which  alone 
can  furnish  the  requisite  subjects,  or  kindle  the  requisite 
passions  for  tUejU&^y  of  cto^euce^JIhe- brilliant  thun- 
derbolt is  the  child  of  the  storm.  Wlien  was  it,  let  me  ask 
again,  that  appeared  the  immortal  speakers  v\ho  have  illus- 
trated their  respective  countries,  in  ancient  and  modern 
times?  Greece  heard  not  the  thunder  of  her  Demo><thenes 
till  the  Macedonian  conqueror  was  on  the  march  with  chains 
in  his  hands  to  put  about  her  neck:  nor  dici  the  tongu*'  of  Cice^ 
ro  Htter  its  most  powerful  notes  till  his  country  trembled  or 

ft 


18 

smaHed  under  the  treasons  and  spoliations  oFCataline,  Ver- 
res  and  Anthony.  France  never  knew  what  It  was  for  the 
voice  of  a  popular  debater  to  command  the  bayonets  of  a 
nation  till  the  concussions  of  her  Revolution  struck  out  the 
coruscations  of  Mirabeau.  And  when  was  it  that  the  Britisli 
parliament  bowed  to  the  resistless  force  of  human  speech, 
and  every  Englishman,  yea,  every  descendant  of  English- 
men, gloried  in  the  claim, 

"That  Chatham's  language  was  his  mother  tongue?" 
It  was  when  the  British  fleet  was  battering  down  our  towns, 
and  the  British  legions  were  carrying  havock  through 
our  fields^ w4*en  the  blobdy  tro^nTe?rortl)e  Indian  toma- 
hawk were  shami'Jessly  leagued  witli  British  arms,  that  the 
indignant  spirit  of  Chatham  electrified  the  senate  of  his 
country  witli  such  bursts  of  overpowering  eloquence  as  it 
had  never  heard  before,  and  perhaps  will  never  hear  again. 
When  was  it  that  the  pen  of  Burke  ruled  the  fn-e  minds  of 
his  countrymen,  like  the  wand  of  a  magician?  It  was  when 
the  friglitful  apparition  of  the  French  Revolution,  starting 
up  by  his  side,  awakened  all  his  energies,  that  he  snatched 
the  harp  of  prophecy  and  remonstrance,  and  pi)ured  upon 
the  ear  of  his  country  such  a  tide  of  soul-subduing  song,  as 
bounJ  in  trance  her  restless  spirits  till  the  season  of  dan- 
ger and  infatuation  was  over.  To  come  to  ourselves,  if  the 
American  bosom  has  ever  beat  to  the  powerful  strokes  of 
senatorial  eloquence,  it  was  when  the  expected  horrors  of 
War  and  servitude  fired  the  hearts  and  the  lips  of  our  Hen- 
ry and  our  Ames. 

Let  us  not  therefore  sigh  because  our  Congress-hall  does 
not  continually  ring  with  strains  rivaling  the  noblest  efTu. 
sions  of  Greece,  Rome  and  England.  Our  race  of  great 
men  is  not  extinct,  nor  is  their  influence  unfelt  when  their 
voices  are  not  heard  in  the  Capitol.  It  would  bean  immense 
mistake  to  suppose  that  all  the  eloquence  and  all  the  wis- 
dom which  we  own,  is  collected  in  our  Congress,  or  that 
tUose  either  in  Congress  or  out  of  it,  who  ajiake  the  most 


19 

noise,  are  the  most  important  personages  of  onr  nation.  To 
borrow  an  illustration  from  Mr.  Burke,  lei  us  not  imagine^ 
<' because  half  a  dozen  grass-hoppers  make  the  field  ring 
"with  their  imjK)!  tuiiate  chink,  that  they  are  therelore  tho 
only  inhabitants  of  the  field,  whilst  thousands  of  great  cat- 
tle repose  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  oak,  and  chew  the  cud 
in  silence."  It  is  perhaps  as  vveli  or  bettor  for  our  country, 
that  in  her  tranquil  days,  her  great  men  should  he  distri- 
buted through  various  parts  of  tlie  cmjiire,  than  collected  at 
the  metropolis.  Our  national  debates  may  be  less  splendid, 
the  world's  gaze  may  be  less  attracted,  but  perhaps  the  na- 
tion is  a  gainer.    These  valuable  characters  -.ue  ilic  salt  of 
the  republic,  whose  utility  depends  not  on  its  accumulation 
in  one  spot,  but  on  its  diffusion.   They  spread  a  wholesome 
seasoning  through  the  general  mass.  While  they  are  quiet- 
ly engaged  in  tlje  pursuits  of  private  life,  Ihey  are  the  or- 
naments of  their  several  neighbourhoods,  they  diffuse  around 
them  the  mild  radiance  of  civic  virtue  and  are  the  focus  o? 
light  and  heat  to  their  little  spheres — at  the  bar,  on  tlie  bench, 
or  in  the  pulpit,  maintaining  the  laws  and  watching  over  the 
morals  of  their  country,  setting  an  example  of  honest,  intel- 
ligent patriotism  in  the  midst  of  their  fellow-citizens,  cor- 
recting their  erroneous  opinions,  liberalizing  their  narrow 
minds,  staying  their  headlong  passions,  teaching  them  to 
appreciate  the  blessings  of  freedom,  introducing  among  them 
the  improvements  of  the  age,  stirring  them  up  to  generous 
enterprises,  founding  and  fostering  seminaries  ot  learning, 
and  thus  lighting  up  new^uns  to  illuminate  their  country 
■when  their  own  last  beams  sliaTl  have  sunk  in  the  west. 
They  may,  too,  without  appearing  in  Congress,  be  pushing 
forward  the  general  well-being  of  the  Union  by  leading  use- 
ful measures  in  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States.  Mean- 
time, should  any  public  exigency  call  for  their  services; 
they  are  ready,  at  the  summons  of  their  country,  to  guide  her 
councils  or  to  wield  her  sword. 
But  I  siiid  there  were  legitimate  and  laudable  objects  of 


20 

our  ambition.  These  are,  the  culture  of  our  native  soil  and 
of  our  native  mind — the  bringing  to  the  highest  pitch  oi 
beauty  the  face  of  our  country  and  the  intellect  and  morals  of 
our  citizens.  Be  these  the  aims  of  American  ambition.  Let 
as  yield  witliout  envy  (o  others  tlie  glory  of  having  slaugh- 
tered more  thousands  of  our  fellow  nien  than  \v*  have;  of 
b(ing  more  sltrewd  than  we  in  the  intrigues  of  diplomacy. 
Bt"  it  ours  by  industry,  frugality  and  the  hand  of  art.  by  a 
diligent  improvenii-nt  of  the  blessings  of  peace  and  freedom, 
to  tuike  «'vt'ry  part  of  our  land  smile  like  the  garden  of 
Eden—  pressing  fr<jm4b«  eiUiiii!sJiilJj)osoi)i^'ie  greatest  pos- 
sible qtraiTtityTirntiTriment  for  the  increasing  miltttmsof  her 
children,  and,  by  every  facility  of  transportation,  to  send 
all  the  proceeds  of  our  labour  with  ease  and  rapidity  from 
the  mountains  to  the  ocean  and  from  the  ocean  to  the  moun- 
tains— these  are  achievements  vvljich  we  may  attempt  and 
Iiope  for  without  guilt  and  without  presumption — victories 
over  impassible  matter  —the  lights  of  science  detecting,  and 
the  arm  of  industry  wielding,  all  the  laterit  faculties  of  na- 
tuic  till  the  subjugation  of  the  inanimate  as  well  as  the  an- 
imated  world  to  the  will  of  man,  shall  make  good  the  char- 
ter allowed  him  by  heaven,  of  "having  dominion  over  the 
works  of  God's  hands." 

But  there  is  yet  a  nobler  subject  than  the  surface  of  the 
earth  for  us  lo  meliorate  and  polish — the  ethereal  mind.  It 
S€»eras  to  be  an  admitted  doctrine,  that  the  best  guarantee  we 
can  have  for  the  permanence  of  our  free  institutions,  is  the 
>  Hitelligence  of  our  people;  that  the  more  light  they  have,  the 
betrer  will  they  appreciate  and  the  more  zealously  defi-nd,the 
precious  inheritance  bequeathed  us  by  our  fathers.  Proceed- 
ing oti  this  principle,  most  if  not  all  of  the  members  o''  our 
confederacy  have  taken  some  measures  tor  the  promotion  of 
education;  some  indeed  have  got  greatly  the  start  of  others 
in  this  race  of  honour,  and  are  now  reaping  the  fruits  of  it  in 
those  liberal  and  magnificent  public  works  to  whiclv  publie 
mtelligeucc  will  infallibij'  give  rise — while  som&are  left  at 


a  iijoitiljuig  distance  behind,  re'arded  by  the  heavy  clogs 
of  ignor-tttfce  and  sordid  parsimony.  Make  a  peopJe  intelli- 
genr,  and  you  make  them  enterprising.  They  learn  that  a 
JM'- irjoiis  expenditure  of  the  public  money  is  the  truest  econ- 
omy, the  best  art  of  growing  rich.  But  an  ignorant  com- 
munify,  with  the  verj  spirit  of  a  miser,  will  lie  stretched 
npon  its  useless  hoard,  not  having  the  heart  to  take  from  it 
more  than  farthing  by  faithing,  pining  in  i  lie  midst  of  abun- 
dance, thrusting  av\ay  in  iiisgrace,  and  spitefully  growling 
at  e\evy  counsellor  that  would  persuac'e  it  to  an  enlightened 
application  of  its  res-ources.  x^hilr  it  enlrusts  with  its  keys 
and  iljoosrsas  its  seniiiiels  tlie  dragons  who  ^^i;l  gtjard  ll»e 
precious  deposit  va  ith  the  most  wakeful  eye,  the  earliest 
hiss,  and  the  fiercest  talons.  We  ma*  be  sure  that  such  a  su- 
icidal policy  !S  the  offspring  of  p;ipular  ignorance — an  ugly 
child  of  an  ugly  mother;  and  that  the  surest  and  spes  diest 
means  for  producing  a  fairer  progeny  is  to  let  in  l-ght  upon 
the  common  mind.  Has  Nortti-Carolina  the  means  of  doing 
this,  and  will  she  neglect  to  improve  the  most  valuable  of  !ier 
possessions?  Is  she  so  anxious  to  have  all  her  resources  de- 
veloped as  to  send  the  skilful  geologist  to  climb  all  her  moun- 
tains, and  explore  all  her  caverns,  that  she  may  learn  what 
mines  of  precious  metal  may  lie  hid,  or  what  minerals  more 
useful  than  they,  may  be  traitsmuted  into  gold  by  the  hand 
of  industry?  And  will  she  be  careless  of  a  much  richer  trea- 
sure, the  native  genius  of  her  sons,  that  which  sheds  more 
lustre  on  a  nation  than  the  gilded  palaces  of  nobles  or  the 
gems  that  sparkle  in  the^jadems  of  princes?  It  is  by  hep 
great  men.  fi^r  men  of  cultivated  talent, Ihat  she  is  to  ac- 
quire rank  and  influenqe  in  the  Union,  and  draw  to  herself 
that  share  of  the  national  respect  and  the  national  treasure 
to  which  she  is  entitled.  Is  it  not  to  the  talents  of  her  ad- 
Tocates  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  (talents  which  this  Col- 
lege has  the  merit  of  haying  nursed)  that  she  now  ovves  the 
means  of  opening  her  harbours  and  enlarging  her  com- 
merce?   How  knows  she  but  among  the  rude  sons  of  her 


22 

peasantry  lie  concealed  '  hearts  pregnant  with  celestial 
fire,'  which  want  only  the  breatii  of  education  to  make  them 
shed  rays  of  glory  on  their  native  state!  Why  does  she  not 
look  with  tlieeye  of  a  mother  on  her  languishing  Universi- 
ty, and  make  it  the  exuberant  uursc  of  her  youthful  genius?" 
This  she  must  do,  if  she  would  rear  within  its  walls  a  race 
of  vigorous  and  majestic  growth,  and  not  a  breed  of  dwarfs 
and  starvelings. 

The  means  now  in  operation  throughout  the  United  States 
for  the  dissemination  of  the  rudiments  of  knowledge,  have 
given  us  already  one  ophc  bcstjnformed  commonalties  in 
the  vvorldr  foreigners  themselves  being  judges.-  But  this 
diffusion  of  moderate  intelligence  among  tiie  tlirong,  is  by 
no  means  all  wliich  our  fortunate  circumstances  warrant  us 
to  expect,  and  pi'ompt  us  to  aspire  to.  All  the  heights  and 
depths  of  philosopliy,  and  all  the  flowers  of  elegant  literature 
lie  before  us,  and  Europe  beckons  us  to  a  generous  compe- 
tition. Happy  is  it  that  there  are  so  various  and  so  alluring 
walks  in  which  the  restless  mind  ol  man  can  harmlessly 
employ  itself,  and  not  be  tempted  to  seek  requisite  excite- 
ment in  the  disturbance  of  society.  This  is  one  vast  advan- 
tage when  the  genius  of  a  nation  takes  a  literary  turn-  All 
its  activity  is  noiseless,  all  its  projects  are  pacific,  all  its 
trophies  are  unbloody.  So  many  minds  find  in  this  way 
pleasurable  exercise  and  repose,  either  as  writers  or  as  rea- 
ders, that  it  is  past  calculation  what  a  sum  of  public  hap- 
piness is  thereby  earned,  and  how  much  national  tranquilli- 
ty is  thereby  promoted.  Many  a  daring  and  active  spirit 
that  would  otherwise  have  made  cannon  balls  and  human 
heads  the  toys  of  its  amusements,  has,  by  receiving  an  ear- 
ly direction  towards  literature,  passed  through  the  world 
"Without  wielding  any  more  noxious  weapon  than  the  grey- 
goose  quill,  or  shedding  any  more  costly  liquid  than  the 
contents  of  the  ink-horn. 

As  the  public  mind  advances  in  intelligence,  we  may  hope 
that  the  dominion  of  reason  over  the  wiUs  and  actions  c^ 


men  will  gain  ground.  While  socit'.ty  is  in  its  infancy  and 
tlj6  minds  of  men  are  dark  and  rude,  every  thing  is  carried 
by  brute  force.  But  just  in  proportion  as  society  advances 
in  refinement,  mental  powers  acquire  an  ascendancy  over 
corporeal  strength.  What  an  inducement  this,  to  bring  our 
minds  to  the  highest  state  of  improvement,  that  we  may  pos- 
sess so  powerful  an  engine  for  moving  the  multitude  of 
mankind!  How  llattering  the  idea,  how  stimulating  to  gen- 
erous exertion,  that,  in  this  enligh.tened  day,  by  the  agency 
of  tlie  press,  one  potent  mind  can  send  abroad  its  thoughts, 
as  on  the  wings  of  the  wind,  to  light  upon  ten  tliousand  oth- 
er minds,  moulding  their  opinions,  determining  their  pur- 
suits, and  like  the  harp  of  Timotheus,  now  kindling  their 
passions  into  transport,  now  lulling  them  to  sleep! 

Here,  young  gentlemen,  opens  upon  you,  a  glorious  mo- 
tive for  pushing  your  intellectual  improvement  to  the  liigh- 
est  point,  and  also  for  studying  with  care  the  art  of  elegant 
composition.  As  the  age  advances  in  refinement  and  vigour 
of  intellect,  its  taste  will  demand  the  most  finished  style. 
No  books  but  those  of  surpassing  merit  both  in  thought  and 
expression  will  have  any  chance  of  public  favour  or  influ- 
ence. But  these  will  exert  a  sway  over  successive  genera- 
tions, serving,  like  the  works  of  Bacon,  of  Newton,  of 
Locke  and  of  Adam  Smith,  to  effect  the  most  auspicious 
changes  in  the  researches  of  philosophy  and  the  adminis- 
tration of  governments.  A  still  more  sacred  use  and  a  still 
prouder  achievement  of  mental  power  will  it  be,  if  you  can, 
by  the  medium  of  the  voreo  oHhe  pen,  restrain  the  vices  and 
purify  the  morals  of  your  country.  Wliat  avails  our  free 
government,  our  plentiful  and  unmolested  fruition  of  every 
earthly  good,  if  we  are  the  slaves  of  vice?  How  is  that  maa_ 
the  happier  for  American  privileges  who  makes  no  better 
use  of  his  ease  and  plenty  than  to  imbrute  himself  by  in- 
temperance, reducing  his  family  to  shame  and  want?  And 
is  it  not  a  melancholy  fact  that  there  are  thousands  of  such 
wretched  men,  and  o^  CamiUe^  made  wretched  by  them,  in 


24  • 

these  happy  United  States?  Now  if  so,  of  what  use  to  them 
are  all  the  envied  privileges  of  American  citizenship?  Less 
Hinh^ippy  tiiiin  these  an;  the  toil-worn  subjects  of  an  oppres- 
sive government,  who  eat  a  scanty  meal  in  a  mud-walled 
cottage,  and  have  neither  the  time  nor  the  meansto  be  in- 
temperate. Thus  doos  vice  blast  all  the  fruits  of  the  patri- 
ot's buttles  and  the  statesman's  counsels,  and  turn  the  milk 
and  honey  of  a  land  into  gall!  What  tribute  of  national 
gratitude  would  repay  the  merits  of  that  writer  who  should, 
by  the  irresistible  force  of  argument  and  persuasion,  give  a 
death  blow  to  intemperance,  that  foe  to  all  the  peace  and 
charities^of -the  heart,  thaFscourgeTJT'our  country,  that 
agent  and  factor  of  death  and  hell?  If  Rome  bestowed 
her  highest  badge  of  honour,  the  civic  crown,  upon  him 
who  had  saved  the  life  even  of  a  single  citizen,  what  gar- 
lands shall  be  an  adequate  recompense  for  the  countless  lives 
saved  by  him  who  should  dry  up  that  fountain,  whose  ma- 
lignant  v/atcrsnot  only  destroy  myriads  of  the  present  gen- 
eration, but  threaten  to  roll  down  upon  posterity  a  stream 
of  poison  about  which  thousands  yet  unborn  shall  gather  to 
<'  taste  the  wave  and  die."  Should  the  writings  of  Beecher 
work  such  a  revolution;  should  their  success,  so  happily  be- 
gun in  the  formation  of  two  hundred  and  twenty  Temper- 
ance Societies,  continue  its  triumphaJit  career  until  the  whole 
nation  shall  be  sworn  to  the  virtuous  compact,  his  reputation 
will  mount  <<  above  all  Greek,  above  all  Roman  fame;"  fu- 
ture generations  will  rise  up  and  call  him  blessed;  his  coun- 
try will  hail  him  as  the  vanquisher  of  her  most  dangerous 
enemy;  her  matrons  will  chant  his  praises  while  living 
and  mourn  him  when  dead,  as  the  preserver  of  the  lives  and 
morals  of  their  children,  and  history  will  rank  his  services 
to  mankind  above  the  exploits  of  Hercules  and  Theseus,  as 
having  rid  the  earth  of  a  more  pestilent  monster  than  any 
which  fell  beneath  their  arms.  Similar  honours  await  those 
who  shall  overwhelm  with  the  weight  of  argument,  the  pa- 
thos of  eloquence  or  the  flashes  oC  wit,  those  3ins  ot  the  hon- 


durable  and  gentee!  classes,  duelling,  gaming,  profanitj 
and  dissoluteness,  wliich  maintain  cietiit  from  the  rank  of 
those  who  practice  them,  but  whicli  ougiit  if  possible  to  be. 
rendered  contemptible  like  the  more  vulgar  vices  of  lying 
and  stealing. 

But  doubtless  these  are  changes  too  vast  and  goodly  to 
expect  from  the  force  of  reason  or  the  charms  of  literature. 
Will  these  be  able  to  stem  that  torrent  of  voluptuousness 
and  effeminacy  which  will  be  apt  to  pour  in  upon  us  from 
a  long  course  of  prosperity?  Look  at  ilome,  in  the  first  cen- 
tury of  the  christian  era — mistress  of  the  civilized  world, 
queen  of  Arts  and  elegancies;  yet,  by  the  inJignant  confes- 
sions of  her  own  writers,  loathsome  for  every  species  of 
flagitiousncss  and  execrable  for  every  atrocity  of  crime. *" 
And  if  you  prefer  a  more  modrrn  example,  look  at  France, 
just  before  her  revolulion;  the  chosen  seat  of  learning  and 
piiilosopiiy,  the  proverbial  model  of  gentle  manners  and 
social  refinement.   But  see  her  passions  once  let  loose,  and 
perhaps  no  barbaric  nation  ever  exhibited  a  parallel  of  sav- 
age fury  and  insatiate  appetite  for  blood.  No;  in  spite  of 
all  those  favourable  circumstances  in  our  situation  which 
have  been  detailed,  we  shall,  it  is  to  he  feared,  go  the  way  of 
all  tlie  nations  that  haye  preceded  us,  who  fell  a  prey  to  their 
own  vices  after  repelling  the  attacks  of  all  outward  ene- 
mies, unless  some  more  powerful  principle  of  selt-preserva- 
tion  than  any  of  them  possessed,  operate  in  our  behalf.  And 
most  happily  for  us  such  a  principle  exists  among  us,  and 
is  now  in  active  operatioir — and  that  is,  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion.     Never  was  there  a  land  where  that  softener  of 
hearts  and  purifier  of  morals  enjoyed  so  safe  an  asylum, 
and  was  taught  with  greater  perfection  and  success.     Let 
its  influence  oncv  become  general,  and  those  vices  wbicU 
are  the  destruction  of  a  nation  will  be  rooted  out,  while 
those  virtues  which   promote   its  happioeas  and  stability 

*  Vide  Horace  and  Juvenal,  passiin 
c 


26 

will  sjM'ing  up  and  flourish.  It  would  seem,  from  the  pro- 
phecies of  scripture,  to  be  the  intention  of  the  ASmighty 
Disposer  of  earthly  affairs,  that  the  state  of  mankind  shall 
go  on  to  improve,  ujitil  the  earth  shall  exhibit  brigliter 
scenes  i»f  happiness  and  virtue  than  have  ever  yet  adorned  it. 
if  so,  that  nation  may,  without  presumption,  hope  for  endur- 
ing favour  which  shall  lend  itself  to  forward  the  purposes 
of  Omnipotence:  hut  wo  to  every  people,  who  shall  by  de- 
praved morals  or  armed  hostility  stand  in  the  way  ot  these 
I)enevo!cnt  designs.  Here  rest  the  fairest  hopes  of  this  coun- 
try. It  appears  to  be  instrumental  in  the  hands  of  God  in 
acconij)lisidmg  his  designs  of  *^^accron  earth  a«d  good  will 
to  men."  If  we  build  upon  this  rock,  it  will  be  a  sure  foun- 
dation, on  which  we  may  rear  the  tower  of  our  national 
greatness  until  it  reach  the  skies,  whose  over-hanging  bolts 
shall  be  guided  innocently  off  by  its  cloud-piercing  spire. 
Ten  righteous  men  would  have  saved  a  city  once  from  the 
impending  vengeance  ol"  heaven,  if  so  many  could  have  been 
found  within  its  walls,  and  a  ship's  crew  of  two  Iiundred 
and  seventy-five  souls  were  saved  from  the  devouring  deep 
by  the  sacred  presence  of  an  Apostle.*  We  may  then  hope 
that  the  day  of  calamity  will  be  averted  from  our  land, 
or  if  it  come  will  be  alleviated,  for  the  sake  not  of  the  ten, 
but  of  the  ten  thousand  righteous,  whose  prayers  are  un- 
ceasingly offered  for  the  nation's  welfare,  and  wliose 
strength  and  wealth  are  unsparingly  devoted  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  that  cause  for  the  consummation  of  which 
beaven  protracts  the  date  of  this  terrestrial  scene.  Now,  oh 
My  country,  I  begin  to  conceive  less  trembling  hopes  of  thy 
preservation.  The  holy  cause  of  heaven  is  delegated  to  thee, 
and  thy  person  is  therefore  inviolable.  ♦*  What  dost  thou 
fear,"  said  the  vain-glorious  Roman  to  his  dismayed  pilot, 

*  I  trust  it  will  not  be  deemed  too  serious  for  the  occasion  to  refer  the 
reader  to  the  following  passages  of  scripture  as  an  illustration  of  the  above 
remarks  and  ot  the  dealings  of  Providence  with  nations:  Gen.  xviii.  32. 
^x.  22.  Acts  xxvii,  24.  Matt,  xxiv,  22. 


27 

in  the  storm:  "  thou  bearest  Csesar  and  his  fortunes."  But 
«  behold  a  greater  than  Csesar  is  here."  The  ship  on  wliiclj 
Christ  is  embarked  can  never  sink. 

Nil  desperandum  Christo  duce,  et  auspice  Christo. 

Winds  and  waves  may  toss  and  vex  It,  but  dare  not  destroy. 
Enemies  may  attack  tiie  gallant  bark,  but  there  are  iei^ions 
of  self-devoted  hearts  on  board,  \\  lio.  on  tin-  trial,  v  ill  t^ath- 
er  round  the  Sacred  Freight,  and  vow  to  ea(  h  other  never 
to  <<  give  up  the  sliip." 

This,  then,  is  the  glory  which  we  ought  to  covet  for  our 
country — t'»e  glory  of  moral  excellein  p— Hie  honour  o(  be- 
ing the  most  virtuous  nation  on  earth,  renowned  for  justice, 
for  humanity,  for  truth,  tor  timperance,  for  industry,  tor 
pious  gratitude  to  God,  for  matchless  beneficence  to  man, 
making  happy  every  heart  within  its  own  spacious  bounda- 
ries, and  feeding  from  its  overlBlowing  abundance  the  needy 
of  other  hemispheres — the  umpire  of  contending  nations, 
the  peace-maker  of  the  Universe. 


"\ 


